Uncategorized —

The IE7 auto-rollout: fact and fiction

News is spreading that on February 12, Microsoft will flag Internet Explorer 7 …

News is spreading that on February 12, Internet Explorer 7 will be flagged for "automatic installation" through Windows update. Microsoft has published a knowledgebase article detailing the push, but there's plenty of misinformation out there stemming from flawed understandings of what the article actually says. In short, the Windows world isn't about to be forced to upgrade to IE7 (although with few exceptions, the Windows world probably should upgrade from IE6 to something else, be it IE7, Firefox, or Opera).

What's happening: come February 12, Microsoft will release IE7 as an "Update Rollup" to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). By treating IE7 as an "update roll-up," the package can be pushed from Microsoft to WSUS without a WGA antipiracy check. This, you may recall, stems in part from a decision Microsoft made last year to treat IE7 more like a critical security update than an application update.

They key to understanding what's happening in two weeks is WSUS. WSUS is not synonymous with Windows Update. WSUS is a management tool that works alongside Windows Update to allow IT admins to control how patches and updates are applied across a deployment. If you're an IT shop, run WSUS and have it configured to install update rollups, then you'll be getting IE7 that day. However, by default, WSUS is not set to automatically approve update roll-ups.

Equally as important, users who aren't in tightly managed business environments (e.g., most users) will not wake up to find that Internet Explorer has been installed on their Windows XP SP2 systems without their say-so. Fret not: Microsoft isn't making you do it. They're not making anyone do it, not even WSUS users.

Really, the only people who need to be aware of what's happening are IT admins that previously deployed the IE7 blocking toolkit to stop IE7 coming in from Windows Update. Such admins, if they are also using WSUS and if they also have WSUS set to automatically install update rollups, will see IE7 skip through. You might think that having deployed the IE7 blocker, this would suffice. However, the IE7 blocker was rolled out long before Microsoft made its decision to remove WGA checks and push out IE7 to WSUS as an update roll-up. This process, in effect, bypasses the blocker toolkit because that toolkit doesn't affect WSUS at all.

Ken Fisher
Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation. Emailken@arstechnica.com//Twitter@kenfisher